Stutthof - For the Glory of the Knights of the Temple EP (2009)

For the Glory of the Knights of the Temple is a highly limited 7" EP released through Zyklon-B Productions. It does not actually feature any new Stutthof material (since the band was content to move on to their newer project Acherontas), but a pair of tunes that were penned around the time of their sophomore album And Cosmos from Ashes to Dust (2004). I was not quite a huge fan of that period, as I found the band to be a middling Hellenic approximation of their obvious Scandinavian influences like Emperor, but nor was it the most incompetent stuff of its sort. I'm afraid that, had these tracks been released back then, it wouldn't have made much difference, because they're not exemplary, but certainly they are on par with anything from the first two albums.

There are two parts to this "For the Glory of the Knights of the Temple" saga, with the first being "The March" and the latter "The Fall". The former is accurately titled, because it is a straight charge of blasted black with streaming, thick tremolo guitars cast beneath the towering rasp of Acherontass, with a few varied riffs that keep up the momentum and become gradually more intricate neared and after the bridge. The latter is naturally the more atmospheric, since it's a pure keyboard ambient piece, but nice enough for that style. Seeing that the band has lifted soundtrack scores directly onto previous releases, it's hard to be sure that it's original, but despite the choirs and vibrant atmosphere, it seems like something they could easily have composed.

Like most of these rare pressings, there must be under a 1000 of these EPs out there in circulation, thus they were never intended for mass consumption (no Stutthof releases ever were). I can't see myself listening to this again anytime soon, but for what it is, you could ask for worse. The production is just as rounded as anything they released previously, but I'm more a sucker for what they are doing in Acherontas, a far more dynamic and compelling entity.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

Stutthof - And Cosmos from Ashes to Dust (2004)

I'm going to admit, I'm just not sure how I feel about a black metal (or any underground metal) outfit lifting film or opera scores straight from the source to their albums. Stutthof's sophomore album And Cosmos from Ashes to Dust does exactly that, with two of the operatic themes from the occult suspense thriller The Ninth Gate serving as book-ends to the core metallic content. Now, let's just assume the best case scenario: the Greeks are given permission by the composer and studio to use these pieces. It's STILL going to feel slightly hammy and contrived, no matter what. Not that there is some thematic dichotomy between glorious, haunting classical pieces and the aesthetic underpinnings of black metal, but because it's just not that original. Yeah, I know bands have used classical samples to great success in the past, but with The Ninth Gate being somewhat contemporary to this album, it just does not work for me here.

That aside, the sophomore feels more ambitious than its predecessor, if only in the sheer length and weight of its compositions, and the tidier production values throughout. Towards Thy Astral Path... was a decent if not compelling slab of grandiose Scandinavian black metal in the vein of masters like Bathory and Emperor, and this poisoned apple does not fall far from its boughs. There is this one 20 and a half minute long piece, "Crossing the Ninth Gate to the Kingdom of Shadows", which seems to conceptually follow the same film as the album intro/outro are taken from. Now, any track of this size is likely to breed some degree of monotony unless it is well, masterfully composed, and this is not, but considering the potential for boredom, they do not do a miserable job of cycling through a handful of storming, tremolo riffs and maintaining constant atmosphere. But the other three tracks, which all range from about 9-10 minutes, all conjure this samey vibe that does make the overall work rather lackluster.

"Wampyric Metamorphosis" is probably the best of these, with a nice breakdown of clean and affected guitars in its bridge, but the rest of the fare bleeds on with little deviation and little to show for itself except for its sheer volume and magnitude. The rasps are your standard black fare, the guitars content with zero innovation and individualism, and a sense of dynamic variance is alien to most of the black metal here, even when they've given themselves almost 21 minutes to play around a theme. However, And Cosmos from Ashes to Dust is far from horrible, unless you plan on writing it off for using the movie themes. It's quite a bit more substantial in length than its' predecessor, which was a restrained 33 minutes and better overall, but I've heard worse. If your standards are confined to the realm of Norse and Swedish style black works from the 90s, then Stutthof's traditional flourishes might appeal, but I don't find them to make a memorable impression, even under these epic inclinations.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

Stutthof - Towards Thy Astral Path... (2002)

Unimpressed with the band's ability to fill 10 minutes of content (An Ode to Thee Ancient Great Goddess), I could only hope that the unattractive full-length debut of Greeks Stutthof would offer a more compelling case for their blustering black metal artistry amidst an ocean of vicious sound-a-likes performing an identical brand of methodic, fast paced throughput with flourishes of synthesizer to preserve a grandiose atmosphere. Well, thankfully, Towards Thy Astral Path... does deliver an improvement over both that EP and their previous split recording. An inclement and varied surge of hostility that, while unoriginal to the max, at least understands the components that made its influences so great and enduring in the prior decade.

In particular, I will single out a fusion of Bathory's Blood Fire Death and Emperor's In the Nightside Eclipse, two of the best recordings this entire genre has ever shat forth from the minds of men, as the parameters of what Stutthof have executed here. No, the songwriting is not nearly so immortal and affecting to live up to such precedents, but the aim is rather spot on to emulate those devilish diatribes. There are some lovely ambient/synth sequences here dubbed "Opus I: Blut" and "Opus II: Boden", the first resonating with a cosmic grace, the latter with desperate sampled choirs and voices, and they help break up the more intense metallic content. I'd already heard "An Ode to Thee Ancient Great Goddess", and there are several similar, sinister surges present like "The Age of Revelation" and "The Feast of Everlasting Flame", but at least these are less of a 'one-track' blitz of tempo, ceding into seething, median gaits where it is deemed apropos.

But in truth, I actually like the songs that in general slower. "In the Fields of the Stars" reignites the pagan, ominous fire of Bathory's Viking epic, with the wicked snarls of Acherontas given much breathing room to flow over the barbaric guitar rhythms. The title track is possessive of even more depth, with manic clean vocals used as a schizo narrative over the ascending and descending walls of atmospheric choir/synth and ripping axe accompaniment. Stutthof still has that razor edged, raw appeal of lo-fi production present on the earlier recordings, and yet here they have truly manifest the added layer of sound that they were only hinting at on their EP. Granted, this is in no way novel when there were already countless examples of the style in the record bins, many far superior to this one, but if it lacks any exemplary characteristics or real hypnotic songwriting, at least this is a competent stab at a black metal substratum which peaked many years before.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (I am a creature of forever)

Stutthof - An Ode to Thee Ancient Great Goddess EP (2002)

With a band name culled from a concentration camp, one would not go into Stutthof's legacy expecting rainbows and congeniality, but the stuff of sheer malice and contempt. Curiously enough, then, that is not quite what manifests through the music, and their lyrics and atmosphere create a strange dichotomy with the chosen moniker, as they seem to celebrate the same mythological and occult sources as many of their Hellenic peers. Fast, grimy traditional black metal is the core of the songwriting focus, and yet they're not above the inclusion of synthesizers or soaring, clean vocals to add just a fraction of another dimension to the volatile, predictable momentum of their largely one-track process of composition.

That is not to say that there is much depth here, because amidst the snarling and growling furor, one will find it difficult to distinguish this from much of the other ripping black emissions out of Europe. Early Burzum, Mayhem and Emperor are all reference points, and the cover of the album definitely recalls the Darkthrone aesthetic (with a touch of Transilvanian Hunger in the actual music). The two tracks don't show much affection for the slower bombastic of their Greek peers, and thus Stuffhof approaches their genre from a succinct Scandinavian vector. Of the pair, "And Cosmos from Ashes to Dust" is marginally more striking in the guitar rhythms, though it too becomes rather monotonous after a brief few minutes of indignant wrath. The blasting drums are functional but wearisome, the vocals indistinct from hundreds of other front-fiends, and the atmosphere is largely confined to the six-strings.

Of course, this is one of those limited edition 7" releases, destined more for collective record collector circle jerks than enduring adulation, and there's only about 10 minutes of content. Add to that the fact that the title track will be released the same year on the band's debut full-length, and the other rekindled as the title for the sophomore, so this is not really the place to start in Stutthof's catalog, and ultimately another piece of fiendish flotsam adrift in the swollen flood of newsprint toned European sadism that persists to this very day. The rough and hissing mix of the material is unlikely to turn away devotees of the genre, but the redundancy of content and mediocrity in the writing leave much to be desired, though they were really just warming up.

Verdict: Fail [4/10]